Notes on a shootaround: Spurs seek to ‘redeem’ themselves after Knicks

SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs’ opportunity to snap their woeful streak against the top teams on their schedule was put on hold Friday in Dallas, where Clippers star Chris Paul was ruled out for at least three to five weeks with a dislocated schedule.

As such, a victory tonight at the AT&T Center would earn an asterisk alongside their 0-7 record against the best teams they’ve faced this season. (One of those losses came to the Clippers, 115-92 on Dec. 16.)

Head coach Gregg Popovich recent admitted he was concerned by the streak. But with the Spurs coming off their most disappointing defeat of the season, at home to the reeling Knicks, Manu Ginobili said the more pressing concern is getting a win by any means necessary.

“They are not going to play with their best player, but still they are one of the best teams and we need that win,” he said. “We can’t think, Oh, I’m disappointed Chris Paul is not here. We just have to win, play well and redeem ourselves from what we did last game. Of course, it would have been nice to beat them with him, but it’s what we have and we have to play our best game and feel better about ourselves.”

My bad: Despite having scored a career-high 32 points, Marco Belinelli took full responsibility for a lackluster defensive performance against the Knicks, culminating with his failure to block out Iman Shumpert on what would prove to be the game-winning tip-in.

“I’m really (upset),” he said. “I made some big mistakes and maybe they cost us the game. I don’t really care about my points, or whatever. I think it’s all about winning and I’m going to be better on defense. I didn’t box out Shumpert and I think that’s why they won the game. I make a big mistake so I’m going to try to be better.”

Man up: Tim Duncan disagreed with Popovich’s postgame assessment that the Knicks had played more physically than the Spurs. But Ginobili sided with his coach, saying the Spurs need to improve their consistency in that area.

“We are like this, up and down,” he said, pantomiming a roller coaster. “We were not as physical as the Knicks, I agree with Pop. We’ve never been a bully type of team, or that type of tough. But we’ve been good at getting 50/50 balls, end-of-game rebounds and things like that. So we were not as strong at that aspect. It’s something you always have to improve. But when the other team does it better than you, that’s when it shows.”

Even so, Ginobili struggled to determine specific reasons why the Spurs have struggled so mightily on defense over the past 17 games, ranking 20th in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions in that span.

“No idea,” he said. “We try to do the same things. On the court, it feels like people are making way more shots than they usually do, and I guess we help that. We just have to be more attentive. We’re having a few miscommunications that we didn’t have at the beginning. And opponents are getting better. It’s been 30-something games, and they’re not rusty like they were at the beginning of the season. It looks like we are basically the same, so we have to really improve.”

The aftermath: Most Spurs shootarounds are done within 30 minutes. Almost never do they last more than an hour. Saturday’s went on for nearly 90 minutes — probably no coincidence considering their last outing, during which the Knicks met little resistance en route to 105 points and nine 3-pointers.

“We had a longer video session,” Ginobili said. “We did a little bit more. A little bit of (losing to the Knicks), and that’s what happens when you have a day off (on Friday). A combination of both.”